Have Fun At Family Friendly Surabaya

Bali hotels are the final word in both luxury and simple accommodation as they cater to the many tourists descending on this spectacular island for a slice of paradise. Bali is arguably the most renowned South East Asian tourist destination in the world. Bali’s beaches have long issued a siren call to sun worshippers and to those among us who love the fabulous combination of sun, sea and sand. The vibrant and sparkling Kuta beach is the centre of all activity in Bali. This is the centre of the universe to the many hordes of party loving youngsters. More remote and serene beaches can be found to the south along the southern coast of Bali. In addition to these, Bali has four sister islands close by which have also been developed for tourist purposes.

One of the big attractions of beauteous Bali is its culture and the spiritualism it exudes. Bali’s culture is demonstrated in its beautiful and graceful dances and ballets depicting the mythology and history of Bali. The many temples also stand testimony to Bali’s spiritualism. The faith and the culture make Balinese natives a gentle and friendly people. Watching the ballets and ceremonial rituals allows the tourist to imbibe the culture of Bali in a small way.

Spend Quality Time at a Shopper’s Haven

Bali is a shopper’s paradise. From the malls to the small shopping centers to the large open air markets, you can find bargains, deals and unusual steals. The shops tend to have fixed price products however the markets are up for bargaining. You can while away many an entertaining hour by watching the vociferous haggling and back and forth arguments in the markets. Local handicrafts such as sea shell arts and textiles. Clothing is especially reasonable. Handicrafts make for a wonderful souvenir and fantastic gifts. In nearby Batubalan, there are some fine furniture shops and terracotta stores. It is also a great place to see the famous Barong dance.

Bali has so much to offer every traveler in terms of sights sounds and activities. Apart from the spiritualist and cultural side, the tourist can also go snorkeling and diving in some of the most spectacular marine landscapes in the world. Bali has something to occupy even the most seasoned and cynical traveler. With world-famous surfing destinations, Bali has also been known for its dance, arts, sculpture, music, metalworking, painting, leather and the famous Batik. Known for the innumerable Hindu temples, Bali showcases the nine directional temples which are the largest. Visitors can enjoy the traditional Balinese massage that is rendered with Swedish style strokes and oil.

Bali offers a Unique and Unusual Vacation Destination

A Long Awaited Family Reunion

When I was a child I used to ask for stories at bedtime and instead of listening to story books my parents would make up stories. I would ask for various things as different interests came and went, teddy bear's picnics, boats and dogs but the one subject that prevailed throughout my childhood was stories about two particular little children. I knew their names well and their ages and that they were my brother and sister but this was about all I knew, aside from a few old photos of my brother as a toddler. Years went by and these bedtime stories were the only thing connecting me to the siblings that I wasn't able to grow up with. Through these stories I was able to imagine what we all would have done together had we had the opportunity and before bed each night we travelled to the beach, the circus and the zoo together and I was no longer an only child.

It was years until I would actually meet my siblings again and when I did I was almost surprised that they looked different to the children I imagined in my stories. I was around fifteen when I met the brother I hadn't seen since I was a baby and by that time I had outgrown teddy bear's picnics and trips to the zoo and at twenty so had he. He seemed nice but it was strange, I didn't know what it was meant to feel like to have a brother but I hadn't imagined feeling shy and awkward, after all we were family and hadn't we talked and talked and pushed and shoved and laughed like other siblings when we went on our adventures to the zoo? I was very happy we had met but at the same time I was sad, there was so much that we had missed and it was hard to know where to start again. At fifteen talking to boys was hard enough especially with the added confusion of this one being my brother. So time passed again and while we did see each other a few more times, getting to know each other was gradual.

When I was a little bit older and wiser I tried again and found the more I got to know my warm, friendly, entertaining brother the more he did begin to feel like the brother I never knew and the less those missed years felt important. After I split up with my ex-husband and the latest fling had ended I found myself single at my brother's 30th birthday. While my focus was on hanging out with my brother as we danced and chatted I did notice a certain tall, dark-haired, hansom friend of his who had recently returned from overseas. How this blue-eyed stranger eventually came to be Finn's father and the love of my life is another story but that night was the beginning. So here we are a few years on and the brother I spent years wondering about is now very much part of my life.

Over the years I have happily had the opportunity to meet my sister a few times and discover our shared love of food, cooking and children. After the birth of my son, while still feeling groggy from all the medication, I was visited by my brother and sister and nephew. It was an amazing thing to have them both there with me and introduce them as my brother and sister to the doctors. Without knowing the back story, here we all were a real family together at last.

I can only tell this story from my perspective but I have also watched my dad deal with the separation and while he has had the opportunity to get to know his son in his twenties, it wasn't until two days ago that he was able to reconnect with his daughter. I remember as a kid going for car trips as my dad attempted to drop off presents to his children and how sad he seemed. My dad now lives in America but he recently returned to Australia to meet Finn and amazingly met his daughter and her two children for the first time also. It was quite incredible to watch as he smiled and laughed and talked with his children on the weekend, as we and our children all enjoyed a meal together in the sun. It is amazing how children bring people together and I hope ours will grow up surrounded by their family in it's entirety, developing relationships with family members from birth that their parents didn't meet until later in their own lives. Perhaps the pain and separation experienced in our generation can now be healed as relationships are rediscovered and rebuilt.

Window Cleaning - In With the Old, Out With the New

Most of us take a great deal of pride in the appearance of our homes. Our kitchen worktops wiped and kept free of clutter, our wood or tile floors polished to a high sheen and carpets vacuumed so it lies perfectly. For the most part, the household chores can be managed with a minimal amount of effort if we give them routine attention. Then we have the cleaning tasks which fall into another category. These are the ones that do not require daily, weekly or even monthly attention, but just a few times a year. We dread them, put them off and even hire a service to do them if that is within our financial means. One of these particular tasks is window cleaning. Our windows are our eyes to the outside world. They provide us with the views we adore, views that could have been the reason we purchased the home. We can watch our children play or spy on the eccentric neighbor. When the views from the windows start to become clouded, dusty and maybe even indistinguishable, we know the daunting task of cleaning them is upon us. The time has come to remove the blinds, which will have to be dusted. Take down the drapes, which will need to be sent to the cleaners. Dig to the bottom of the garage to find the squidgy and industrial vacuum for all those little bits and mites gathered in the sill. And, since we have all of our supplies unpacked, we have to do all the windows and get it over with.

Though the job is long, frustrating and labor intensive we need not be so full of gloom. The finished result, with which we'll be awarded, is a perfectly transparent view to the outside world. It will be worth all the effort. For the interior side of the window pane any of the major window-cleaning solutions on the market today will do just fine. Vinegar and water is a viable solution if you prefer a natural product. It's a simple recipe, 1 part vinegar to 1 part water. The real key is what product you use to wipe and shine the glass. Many folks prefer the old fashioned, time-proven method of using old newspaper. Spraying on the cleaner and then using the newspaper in wide circular wiping motions will leave your glass streak free and require very little continual wiping like some other cleaning clothes can. We now move to the exterior side of the window pane. Modern technology has brought us many great inventions. Among those are the window cleaner concentrate. This concentrated solution can be purchased in either a liter or half liter container, with a threaded plastic fitting for you to attach the garden hose. The water, mixing with the concentrate, is then forced through a tiny nozzle creating enough pressure to clean the highest windows of the average home. So, the next time you find window washing on your list of things that need doing, remember the old way works better inside and the new way works better outside.

Tree Pruning Tips

There are two kinds of winter gardening. The first method usually starts in January as the gardening catalogs begin to arrive in the mail. This type of gardening is as easy as sitting in your favorite chair, browsing the catalogs, and either dreaming about what you're going to do this spring, or actually drawing designs for the gardens you intend to work on. 

The second type of winter gardening is to actually get out in the yard and do a little work. Of course if it's bitter cold, you'd be better off waiting for a good day. Winter is a good time to do some pruning if the temperatures are around 30 degrees or so. I don't recommend pruning if it's considerably below freezing because the wood is brittle and will shatter when you make a cut. 

One of the advantages of pruning during the winter is that you can see much better what needs to be cut out and what should stay. At least that's true with deciduous plants. The other advantage is that the plants are dormant, and won't mind you doing a little work on them. 

Ornamental trees should be pruned to remove competing branches. Weeping Cherries, Flowering Dogwoods, Flowering Crabapples etc. have a tendency to send branches in many different directions. It is your job to decide how you want the plant to look, and then start pruning to achieve that look. 

But first stick your head inside the tree and see what you can eliminate from there. This is like looking under the hood, and when you do you'll see a lot of small branches that have been starved of sunlight, that certainly don't add anything to the plant, they are just there, and should be cut out.

Any branch that is growing toward the center of the tree where it will get little sunlight should be cut out. Where there are two branches that are crossing, one of them should be eliminated. Once you get the inside of the plant cleaned up, you can start shaping the outside. 

Shaping the outside is actually quite easy. Just picture how you want the plant to look, and picture imaginary lines of the finished outline of the plant. Cut off anything that is outside of these imaginary lines. It is also important to cut the tips of branches that have not yet reached these imaginary lines in order to force the plant to fill out. 

For the most part plants have two kinds of growth. Terminal branches and lateral branches. Each branch has one terminal bud at the very end, and many lateral branches along the sides. The terminal buds grow in an outward direction away from the plant. Left uncut they just keep growing in the same direction, and the plant grows tall and very thin. That's why the trees in the woods are so thin and not very attractive. 

When you cut a branch on a plant, the plant sets new buds just below where you cut. When you remove the terminal bud, the plant will set multiple buds. This is how you make a plant nice and full. Don't be afraid to trim your plants, they will be much nicer because of it. The more you trim them, the fuller they become. 

Lots of people have a real problem with this. They just can't bring themselves to prune. Especially when it comes to plants like Japanese Red Maples. It kills them to even think about pruning a plant like this. Just do it! You'll have a beautiful plant because of it. 

Look at the plant objectively. If you see a branch that looks like it's growing too far in the wrong direction, cut it. If you make a mistake it will grow back. Not pruning is the only mistake you can make. I hope this helps and doesn't get you in trouble with your significant other. Many a family feud has started over pruning.

Journey of Four Holy Pedestals for Salvation

The Chardham Yatra is a blissful journey to the four pedestals of divinity namely Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri, and is one of the most famed spiritual journeys of Hinduism. Hindu people believe that by visiting these holy places they will get blessings of the Lord and the journey would aid them to attain salvation i.e moksha. All the four pedestals of the holy journey are frequented by the pious Hindu devotees every year to seek the holy blessings of gods and goddesses. It is also believed that after completion of Char dham Yatra, all the past sins are washed away. The journey to these holy pedestals has been practiced since ancient times and even today around three lakh tourists take this trip during the annual pilgrim season.As already mentioned above, Chardham Yatra is a very popular religious tour and each of the places covered in the tour is famous for its spirituality. Char literally means four and Dham means the abode of god, and this make the trip a journey of four shrines which are Yamunotri, Gangotri, Shri Kedarnath, and Shri Badrinath.Every year, majority of pilgrims take the tour from the famous temple town of Haridwar, while some other also leave from Rishikesh or Dehra Doon. The season of the journey begins in the summers as the state of Uttarkhand, where all the four destinations are located, is relatively cooler than the other states of the country. Haridwar is the nearest railway head to Chardham that lies 30 km before Rishikesh on way to Chardham.The Yatra can be done by road and train. But this journey can be done only upto a certain extent after which one has to go through some trekking routes. One can hire ponies or palanquins do cross these trekking routes to reach up to the most sacred abodes in the Himalayas. There are options available to cover these areas by helicopter also. The Chardham yatra by Helicopter offers unique experience of the pilgrimage as the devotees fly past the majestic and snow capped Himalayan ranges exploring the mesmerizing topography of divine land from closer distance. The journey by helicopter not only saves the travelling time, but also provides the opportunity to the pilgrims to explore the richness of calm and composed surroundings and give a splendid feel altogether. The Helicopter services are organized by the local tour operators and are arranged in conjunction with the private and government aviation operators.You can also anchor the Yatra with Haridwar which is a great idea. The city of Haridwar will give you an amazing start to the tour of the 4 abodes and also mentally prepare you on how to go about this religious tour. In 2012, the pilgrimage tour is commencing from April 24 as Yamunotri and Gangotri Dhams will open on that day. The shrine of Badrinath will open after few days whereas Kedarnath will open in the first week of May. The closing dates for the Tour will be during Diwali festival period in November.